Class Follow

Gordon Brown is planning massive cuts that will devastate working class communities across Britain.

What forces can the working class trust? How should we fight for more democracy? Can we get rid of class society?

I’m not clear what "myth" Bob Fotheringham thinks he is challenging here. I agree that Thatcher was always deeply unpopular with most of the working class and was highly vulnerable down to the defeat of the Great Miners’ Strike – points in my original article. It is not helpful, however, to underestimate our enemies or refuse to recognise their achievements for the capitalist class, which in Thatcher’s case were considerable.

I’ve always listened to the radio. It seemed closer, more intimate than television, and you could read or cook while it was on. It seemed freer, too, because soundscapes have no dimensions except the ones you imagine.

Socialists use different strategies and tactics to fight the capitalists, depending on the situation we face. Whatever kind we use, our intention is always to weaken our rulers and strengthen the working class.

The Barclays’ pension dispute is a crucial fight for the Unite union and the working class in general. The bank is trying to close its final salary pension scheme to existing members in a well-unionised workplace.

Letters

‘I have had a positive reaction to the open letter at work. People are keen to discuss the idea of building a united left electoral alternative and the danger of people seeing the BNP as the voice for working class people if we don’t get our act together.’

With the leadership of the Labour Party likely to come up for grabs, Harriet Harman has attempted to make herself more acceptable to the centre left.

According to Peruvian president Alan García, the Amazonian peoples "are not first class citizens".

The elections in Iran, and the mass protests against fraud that followed, have revealed the deep divisions at the heart of Iran’s ruling class.

The bosses’ desired solution to the recession is to make workers pay for it. The political class agrees, but is unsure how far and how quickly it can try to make this happen.